The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine

This show was shown here in the states long before Monty Python. Terry Gilliams cartoons and this wild sort of humor was very new at the time this show came out. I found it very very funny and often wondered if someone would someday make these shows available again for viewing/buying.

I remember Marty Feldman being on the summer replacement show for "The Dean Martin Show". It was called "The Gold Diggers" and aside from the nice looking women, they always had one sketch by Marty Feldman (this was the 1st time I saw his famous veterinarian "thing in the box" routine - a classic.) I always thought Marty Feldman was probably born about 40 years too late, he had the classic silent movie slapstick look and feel about him. He would have rivaled the best from the 20s and 30s, right up there with Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy etc. To me, he was very reminiscent of Buster Keaton. At any rate, they did put on his show "The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine" for one season and I still remember many of his skits. What I wouldn't give to have the full collection on DVD. I'd pay good money to be able to see those skits again. Unfortunately, none of his movies (with the obvious exception of "Young Frankenstein") were very good - always too much plot that always seemed to get in the way of the raw slapstick comedy - - - a similar problem with all great classic silent comedians. But this one series called "The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine" contains Marty Feldman's best work - without argument it is his best work. Pure, unadulterated, short classic comedy skits that rival the best that Chaplin, Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, Harold Lloyd and the other famed performers of that era produced. I don't think anyone would argue with that fact. Each one "Comedy Machine" shows contained maybe 4 skits and each skit was an equivalent to a 1 or 2 reeler, and they were clearly classics. It is truly a waste that they are not currently available for all to enjoy today.

These were the absolute BEST comedy skits WHY DON'T THET RE-RELEASE THESE ? I FOR ONE WOULD BUY AS MANY AS WERE MADE WISH THAT I COULD FIND SO'MEONE WHO HAS THEM FOR SALE, ID BUY THEM IN A SECOND

This was ITV's attempt to buy itself a Monty Python. Monty Python (BBC) consisted of the Oxford and Cambridge graduates (plus Terry Gilliam) out of two earlier shows that ITV had shown: Do Not Adjust Your Set, a kids show (!) had Jones, Palin, Idle, Gilliam. At Last The 1948 Show had Cleese and Garden. I'm sorry, I'll read that again (BBC radio) also had Cleese and the 3 Goodies. After appearing in the 1948 show, Marty Feldman had his own BBC show that was thought to appeal to a more mainstream audience, partly because he had already scripted Round The Horne and other radio vehicles. This show also featured Tim Brooke-Taylor, who had also been in the 1948 and ISIRTA shows. ITV realised that Feldman's humour was closer to the BBC2 Pythons than the BBC1 Two Ronnies (who had started out with Cleese on David Frosts shows) that he was classified with, and made a big play. Feldman had a big budget, and it showed. I've never understood why this show failed, except that, simply, the ITV demographic wasn't ready. Eventually a Pythonesque series did make it past the first season, Sunday afternoon's "End of Part One", but who remembers that now?

I first became familiar with the comedy sketches of the late British comedian Marty Feldman as a teenager. During 1970 and 1971 his material was used to bolster "The Golddiggers," a summertime replacement show for the "Dean Martin Show"on NBC. Feldman's, often-silent film shorts rank up there with the funniest material I have ever seen. Although this particular show under consideration here(which actually appeared during the summer of 1972)was not quite as good as the bits seen on the "Golddiggers," it was still a scream.

Feldman finally achieved notoreity for American audiences for his end of 1974 film debut in the role of Igor opposite Gene Wilder's Dr. Frankenstein in Mel Brooks' classic "Young Frankenstein." Feldman went on to appear in and direct a few less-than-memorable films such as "The Remake of Beau Geste" and "In God We Trust." Unfortunately, he died of a heart attack while on location for the 1982 film "Yellowbeard."

With the proliferation of video out there, it's really very surprising that no one has to date put together any sort of video or Dvd collection of Feldman's comedy. If it does ever surface, do yourself a favor and get hold of it, sit back, and prepare to laugh your head off!